Both creatively and flexibly!
Our coop is made entirely from recycled materials -- mostly wood and screen from other projects.
We know from experience that chickens love having a place to scratch, and that we can boost the warmth in the coop by using the deep litter method. What we didn't know is that building a vertical coop with the scratching and composting pit in the bottom, through a hatch in the floor, would go against that somewhat because convection pulls most of the warmth up and out. Unfortunately, this means the coop is only about 10 degrees warmer than the outside. Right now that's fine, but when it gets seriously frigid it'll be a problem.
And how do we know the temperature? We use temperature and heat monitors. We have a very modern chicken monitoring system.
They also have a run, devised from a very rough alley that runs to the basement window from their coop. I often find them watching the cat -- as the cat watches them back out the window. There's a second compost pile, straw, and I toss scratch grains and vegetable scraps out daily for their entertainment.
Anyway, it's a work in progress. The chickens seem thrilled with a cozy house that gives them everything they need to be happy.
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